49902 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No.
164 / Thursday, August 25, 2005 / Proposed Rules
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 229
[Docket No. 041108310–5222–03; I.D.
100104H]
RIN 0648–AS78
List of Fisheries for 2005
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; proposed
rule; reopening of public comment
period.
SUMMARY: On December 2, 2004, the
proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for
2005 under the Marine Mammal
Protection Act (MMPA) was published
in the Federal Register. NMFS
subsequently prepared a draft
Environmental Assessment (EA) on the
process for classifying U.S. commercial
fisheries on the LOF. NMFS is
reopening the comment period on the
proposed 2005 LOF for an additional 60
days to allow the public to concurrently
review and comment on both the draft
EA and proposed 2005 LOF.
DATES: Comments must be received by
October 24, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Send comments on the
proposed 2005 LOF and draft EA to
Chief, Marine Mammal Conservation
Division, Attn: List of Fisheries, Office
of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315
East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD
20910. Comments may also be sent via
email to 2005LOF.comments@noaa.gov
or the Federal eRulemaking portal:
http://www.regulations.gov (Follow
instructions for submitting comments).
Comments regarding the burden-hour
estimates, or any other aspect of the
collection of information requirements
VerDate jul<14>2003 16:51 Aug 24, 2005 Jkt 205001
contained in the proposed rule, should
be submitted in writing to the Chief,
Marine Mammal Conservation Division,
Office of Protected Resources, NMFS,
1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring,
MD 20910 and to David Rostker, OMB,
by e-mail at
DavidlRostker@omb.eop.gov or by fax
to 202–395–7285.
Copies of the draft EA for this action
are available on the NMFS Office of
Protected Resources website, which is
listed under the Electronic Access
portion of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kristy Long, Office of Protected
Resources, 301–713–2322; David
Gouveia, Northeast Region, 978–281–
9300; Juan Levesque, Southeast Region,
727–551–5779; Cathy Campbell,
Southwest Region, 562–980–4060; Brent
Norberg, Northwest Region, 206–526–
6733; Bridget Mansfield, Alaska Region,
907–586–7642; Chris Yates, Pacific
Islands Region, 808–944–2235.
Individuals who use a
telecommunications device for the
hearing impaired may call the Federal
Information Relay Service at 1–800–
877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Eastern time, Monday through Friday,
excluding Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
The proposed 2005 LOF Federal
Register notice and draft EA for this
action can be downloaded from the
NMFS Office of Protected Resources
website at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/
pr/interactions/lof/.
Background
On December 2, 2004, the proposed
List of Fisheries for 2005 under the
Marine Mammal Protection Act was
published in the Federal Register (69
FR 70094). NMFS must categorize each
commercial fishery on the LOF into one
of three categories under the MMPA
based on the level of serious injury and
PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\25AUP1.SGM
mortality of marine mammals that
occurs incidental to the fishery. NMFS
must publish in the Federal Register
any necessary changes to the LOF after
notice and opportunity for public
comment. In the proposed LOF for 2005,
NMFS proposed several fishery
classification, fishery name, and
organizational changes. In particular,
NMFS proposed to reclassify the
California/Oregon thresher shark/
swordfish drift gillnet (≥14 in. mesh)
from Category II (occasional incidental
mortality and serious injury) to Category
I (frequent incidental mortality and
serious injury) and to reclassify the
Northeast bottom trawl, Mid-Atlantic
bottom trawl, and five Alaska fisheries
from Category III (remote likelihood of
or no known incidental mortality and
serious injury) to Category II. The five
Alaska fisheries include the following:
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI)
flatfish trawl, BSAI Greenland turbot
longline, BSAI pollock trawl, Bering Sea
sablefish pot, and Gulf of Alaska Pacific
cod longline.
NMFS extended the comment period
on the proposed 2005 LOF for an
additional 30 days (70 FR 776, January
5, 2005). In that Federal Register notice,
NMFS also announced its intent to
prepare an EA on the process for
classifying fisheries on the LOF. NMFS
is reopening the comment period on this
proposed action to allow the public an
opportunity to review and comment on
the draft EA and supplement any
previous comments on the proposed
2005 LOF. Therefore, NMFS is
reopening the public comment period
on the proposed LOF for 2005 for an
additional 60 days.
Dated: August 22, 2005.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05–16939 Filed 8–24–05; 8:45 am]
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